Press Release
OPERATION WHOSEHOUSE FUGITIVE MORTGAGE BROKER EXTRADITED FROM JAMAICA TO FACE SOUTH FLORIDA FRAUD CHARGES
May 19, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael K. Fithen, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, Henry Gutierrez, Postal Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, James M. Foster, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Amos Rojas, Special Agent in Charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Alex Hager, Acting Commissioner, State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation, announced today that mortgage broker Yvette Scott Patterson, who was recently ordered extradited from Jamaica to face federal mortgage fraud charges in the Southern District of Florida, had an initial appearance in federal court in Fort Lauderdale this morning. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer scheduled a pre-trial detention hearing for defendant Patterson for Friday, May 22, 2009, at 10:00 AM.
Patterson fled the U.S. in early 2006 after being arrested and released on bond on unrelated state charges. Patterson was subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury on November 7, 2006, on mortgage fraud charges in "Operation Whose House." Yvette Scott Patterson had been detained in Kingston, Jamaica, since her arrest on March 8, 2008, pending extradition to the U.S. on the 2006 fraud charges.
The 2006 Indictment charged Yvette Scott Patterson and others with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and identity fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme to obtain mortgages based on fraud for the purchase of residential properties in Broward County, Florida. The fraud involved more $10,000,000 in mortgages. Through her company, Khadmilroy, Inc., in Sunrise, FL, Patterson is alleged to have submitted fraudulent mortgage applications and false documentation to lenders throughout the U.S., using straw buyers and the stolen identities of unwitting victims.
To date, nine defendants have pled guilty as part of Operation Whose House. One defendant was convicted after trial in 2007, and is serving a sentence of 87 months in jail.
Operation Whosehouse is a joint investigative effort between state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the State of Florida, Department of Financial Regulation. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey Kay and Jennifer Keene of the Fort Lauderdale Office.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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